Dear Santana
by JMonte
Summary: Santana's a soldier and Brittany is still a student. What happens when the two meet in the last couple of weeks in Summer? Got inspired to write this one after watching the movie "Dear John". The beginning is similar to that of the movie but eventually the fanfiction will take its own direction.
1. Chapter 1: Blackout

**Author's Note: Hi everyone, so this is my new fanfic. It's actually the first one which I decided to upload. Please don't be so harsh. I hope you will enjoy reading and please do not hesitate to leave any reviews. Thank you :)**

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Chapter 1: Blackout  
(Santana's POV)

_There's something I wanna tell you._

_After I got shot, you wanna know the very first thing that entered my mind, before I blacked out?_

_Coins._

_I'm 8 years old again on a tour of the U.S. Mint.  
I'm listening to a guide explain how coins are made. How they're punched out of sheet metal. How they're rimmed and beveled. How they are stamped and cleaned. And how each and every batch of coins are personally examined just in case any have slipped through with the slightest imperfection._

_That's what popped into my head._

_I am a coin in the United States Army.  
I was minted in the year 1986. I've been punched from sheet metal.  
I've been stamped and cleaned. My ridges have been rimmed and beveled. But now I have two small holes in me.  
I'm no longer in perfect condition._

_So there's something else I wanna tell you._  
_Right before everything went black, you wanna know the very last thing that entered my mind?_

_You._


	2. Chapter 2: Optical Illusion

Author's note: This second chapter is much longer than the first. Hope you enjoy it :)

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Chapter 2: Optical Illusion  
Subtitle:- The Moon Ain't Ever Bigger Than Your Thumb  
(Santana's POV)

I loved these days. I loved the days where I could spend hours in the sea surfing and swimming.

I remember how when I was young I used to spend nearly the whole day swimming. Nowadays, unfortunately, I couldn't do this much. Being at work, far away from home, it limited me the number of days I could do this. Thank God I had these 4 weeks off. I nearly spent every day here in the sea again.

I headed out on my surfboard, paddling out one last time, then I turned around waiting for the wave so when it did, I started paddling in again and when it reached me, I stood up and surfed my way back to the shore.

I left my surfboard under the pier and went up on it and looked out to the sea against the wooden railings. It was sunny today and the sun shone beautifully on the sea. It was like I was in my own world, looking straight ahead, letting the little breeze there was to hit my wet, tanned face, making droplets chill against it and blowing my long, dark-brown hair back. The sun was facing me and with my eyes narrowed, all I could see were the waves rolling on the shore, getting the sand wet but it always seems like it quickly dries back when the wave rolls out again. _Funny_, I thought.  
I could feel the scorching sun on my beautiful caramel toned skin and I could hear the seagulls squawk and the sound of the waves. That's all I was hearing until I heard some noises, voices to be exact, from a group of people walking behind me on the pier and going to the far end, a few metres away from where I was.

I phased out of my trance and turned my face to look at them. Three girls and two guys.  
The guys, little interested me, however both were tall. One had dark brown hair and was the tallest of the two, and the other was wearing a mohawk. Then one of the girls, the shorter of the three had long, brown hair which hung loosely in the wind and the other was slightly taller with blond hair in a loose ponytail. The other girl, was the taller of the three, and she also had long, straight, blonde hair which whipped behind her shoulders in the breeze.

I wasn't trying to be nosy at all, but I couldn't help from overhearing what they were saying as they were speaking loud.

"I'm not even kidding, you got wasted way before me yesterday dude!" the guy with the mohawk was telling the other guy.  
"Shut up, Puck, I didn't! You were pretty drunk yourself!" the other guy told him.  
"Calm down boys, will you?" the brown haired girl said.  
"If I were you, I wouldn't even bother to make them stop Rachel, you know they won't listen babe," the girl with blonde hair in a ponytail told her.

Then, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the guy with the mohawk jumping to sit on the corner where the railings meet and something drops down the 20-foot pier, into the water.

"Oh my God, Puck, damn you! That was my bag, over there on the railing. You dropped it, you jackass!" the tall, blonde girl who hadn't talked before yet, said while she was looking down into the water.  
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry! Damn it," Puck said worriedly while looking down as well.  
"I've my life in that bag! Go get it, damn it!" the tall, blonde girl scolded him.  
"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm on it, don't worry!" Puck began running his way back to the beginning of the pier to get into the water to get that blonde girl's bag.  
"If he doesn't find it, I'm screwed," the tall, blonde girl said worriedly, running her hand through her long hair.

I looked to the other side and saw the guy with the mohawk, who was called by the name 'Puck', who was still a long way from the beginning of the pier and shook my head a little.

_If he's gonna remain running with that snail pace that he's running with, there's no way he's gonna get her bag._

I sighed and since I was in my bikini, I put one foot on the middle railing, and with my hands on the upper railing, I swung my legs on the other side of the railings and jumped into the water. I dived down deepwater and opened my eyes and as I searched, on the bottom I saw a white handbag swaying with the current underwater so I dived till the bottom and grabbed it and swam up again for air, holding the bag in my hand while swimming back to the shore.

As I was walking on the sand, still knee deep in the water, I saw the mohawk guy running towards me, a little out of breath.

"I was gonna get that, but thanks for jumping in," he started saying while trying to make an attempt to take the bag.  
"Yeah, no problem," I told him as I continued making my way up the shore.  
"Hey, I can take it from here," he started saying, while trying to make an attempt to take the bag again, but I pulled my hand back politely and kept walking on the shore, towards the tall, blonde girl who was now running towards me.

"Oh my God, thank you, so so much!" the tall, blonde girl came running with a smile on her face.  
I handed her the bag with a small smile on my face as I looked at her.  
She was beautiful. She had clear, blue, sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks which complimented her vanilla, pale skin.  
"Really, you are a lifesaver. Thank you so much! I'm Brittany," she said as she looked at me, holding the wet bag in her hands.  
"Santana," I told her while nodding a little with a smile.  
She smiled and said, "Santana, what a brave young lady eh. This is my life in here so I owe.. I owe you."  
I smiled and shook my head and said, "Don't worry about it. It was nice to meet you, Brittany."  
"It was nice to meet you too, Santana," she told me with a welcoming smile on her face.  
"You all have a good night," I said as I started walking backwards a little and turned around to head back.

I began walking in the other direction when I remembered my surfboard was in the other direction under the pier, on the shore.  
I turned around, and started walking slowly in the other direction, behind Brittany and Puck.

Then Puck turned his face a fraction and looked back and said to Brittany, while still walking, "What? Is she crazy?"  
I chuckled and said, "Yeah, no, I swear I'm not stalking you. Really. I just gotta get my board."  
Puck shook his head and continued walking while Brittany slowed down then and looked at me as she then continued walking beside me.  
"Are you staying here?" she asked.  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm from around here," I answered.  
She nodded and after a few seconds, as I was picking up my board and my backpack then, she said, "Hey Santana, do you want to, umm..? My house is right over there," she said as she pointed to a beach house in the distance. "Umm, we were actually going back right now. Would you like to join us? We're just gonna have a barbecue."  
"Nah, it's okay. I don't erm, wanna intrude on y'all. My dad's making dinner, it's fine."  
"Ohh, alright.. but umm, I could at least give you a beer or something for the walk home, if you want."  
I smiled and sighed and agreed to go to her house and so we made our way to her house.

I sat on a branch of tree on the sand and rested the board next to me, and since I had dryed up by then, I took out my black shorts, and a gray tanktop and wore them. As I was putting my sneakers on, Puck then came to sit close to where I was, on a boulder and took a piece of stick out of the unlit bonfire and started twiddling it around his fingers.

"So, what's your name?" he asked.  
"Santana," I answered while I looked at him and ruffled my hair a little to put it in position since it was still wet.  
"Name's Puck."  
"Nice to meet you, Puck," I said, as I nodded.  
Then I caught him looking at my boobs, which fit perfectly with just enough decent cleavage showing, and quickly he shifted his gaze to something else. His eye caught the sapphire ring which was on the fourth finger then in my right hand, and he commented, "Wow, nice ring."  
"Thanks," I smiled a little bit as I stretched out my fingers a bit. I never took that ring off of my finger, not even when swimming. It was the only thing I had left of mum.  
"It looks so army-ish.. What, are you in the military or something?" he asked with a short laugh.  
I chuckled lightly and looked at him and said, "Yeah, actually I am."  
"Oh really? What err.. branch are you in then?" he asked as he broke a twig in half and threw it in the bonfire.  
"Army, Special Forces," I answered.  
"No joke! A woman in the Army? And Special Forces huh, wow that's... that's impressive!"  
I smiled and he continued, "It's not that common eh to find a woman in Special Forces. That makes you a tough one, huh?"  
"I guess so, yeah."  
"If you're in the army then, aren't you supposed to be wearing a hat too? Like a French hat, a beret or something? Isn't that what it's called?" he rambled.

At that moment, Brittany came with two beers in her hand, extending one arm with one beer towards me.  
"Puck, you shouldn't make fun of a woman who can kill you with her bare hands," she said jokingly.  
He seemed taken off guard and a bit nervous and stood up and said, "Ooh, easy, tough woman, yeah.. Rock them, sock them, let's go!"  
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow and I could've sworn I had the 'Are-you-serious-right-now?' expression on my face.  
He stumbled over a small rock and turned in my direction again, did a little salute and said to me before he left, "Soldier... Pleasure."

I snickered as he left and Brittany chuckled and apologised, "I'm sorry about him. He just thinks he likes me."  
I smiled and said, "Yeah, I think he likes you too."  
"No, I'm not his type. He just doesn't know it yet."  
I did a _mmm.._ sound and she gave me a questioning look and I said, "Come on, I just think you're probably everybody's type."  
She took a sip out of her beer and smiled a little and asked, "Soo.. you're really a soldier? In the Army?"  
"Yep, I am," I answered, taking a gulp of my beer.  
"Wow, I was right before then when I said you're brave. I mean you must be if you're a soldier."  
"Well, I'm no Hulk, but yeah, I guess you can say that I'm not much of a wimp," I said with a chuckle.  
She giggled at that and I asked, "And what about you? You work?"  
She shook her head and said, "No, I'm still a student, in fact I start in a couple of weeks."  
"Ohh, and what are you studying so hard to do then hmm?"  
"Umm, to be honest I haven't quite figured that out yet."  
I smiled and said, "Don't worry, sooner or later, you'll find your dream."

We contined talking for some while and then, a little blonde boy, at around the age of four, came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around Brittany's neck.

"Whoa, who is this? Huh? Who is this? Is it someone called Matt?" she turned around to see the boy and smiled at him as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.  
"Hey Matt, how are you?" she asked.  
"Good. How are you Brittany?" the boy asked.  
"I'm fine sweetie. Hey, wanna meet someone? This is my friend, Santana. Say hello, Matt," she told him and then looked to me. "Santana, this is Matt," she introduced us.  
I smiled at him and said, "Hi, Matt!"  
He looked at me and smiled and he then said, "Hello, Santana."  
Brittany smiled and asked him, "And where's your dad huh, Matt?"  
The boy looked behind him and coming towards us, was a young, blonde, handsome guy, who seemed he was in his twenties still. He had a dorky smile on his big, guppy lips. But he was good-looking, none the less.  
"Always trailing behind him eh," he said in his deep, manly voice as he approached us.  
Brittany smiled and the guy continued, "Sorry. He's like a heat-seeking missile when he sees you."  
He then looked at me and smiled his big smile again and extended out his arm at me. "Oh sorry, hi I'm Sam. You a friend of Brittany's? I never saw you around."  
I smiled and shook his muscled arm and said, "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Santana. Umm, we just met today actually, although I'm from around here."  
"Really?" He asked.  
I nodded and shook my hand to shake away dismissively a housefly.  
He looked at my hand and caught the sapphire ring.  
"Special Forces right? Where are you stationed at?"  
"Germany, Sir."  
"Aah you're on leave then. Hope you enjoy yourself ma'am," he said with a grin.  
I glanced at Brittany and smiled and looked up at him and nodded and said, "Yeah, I think I am, yeah."  
Sam took Matt's hand then and smiled while pulling his son to continue walking.  
"Well, sorry to interrupt you two ladies. We gotta continue walking. It was nice to meet you though Santana."  
"It was nice to meet you too Sam," I smiled and looked at Matt, cocking my head to one side and said, "You too, Matt."

They left then, and it was just me and Brittany again. She took a sip of her beer.  
"Wow, that was impressive. Matt doesn't usually talk to a lot of people."  
I looked at her and asked, "Yeah? Why?"  
She sighed and said while moving her foot to make patterns in the sand with her shoe, "He umm, he never was much of a talker actually. His mum – Sam's girlfriend – she had died in a car accident when Matt was two.. He misses her even if he was little, and from that time onwards, it's like he keeps to himself. That's why I'm surprised how come he talked to you."  
I nodded understandingly and smiled a little smile, trying to make the subject a little lighter.  
"Well I guess I'm just a likeable person," I said while chuckling.  
She chuckled and as I finished down the last sip of my beer, I asked, "You've known Sam for a long time? You two seem friends."  
She smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah we are. We were in high school together and his family happened to live close to us on a beach house next to ours. So I've practically known him all my life. He's a good guy.. Nowadays not many would do what he did when his girlfriend had told him she was pregnant with Matt. He took the responsibility of his actions and he's fathering Matt now, while running his own gym. It's sad that Katie had to die so young, leaving him behind. But at least he has Matt now, and he's all he's living for."  
I nodded and remained silent, not knowing what to say.

She took my empty beer bottle then as she stood up and threw them in a trash which was close by.  
She came up to me again and said then to me, "Want to go for a walk? I barely know any of these people and I've no idea where my friends are."  
I stood up and we started walking, heading out to the shore.

"So.. Tell me something about yourself," she asked while scrunching up her face against the sun, which was now settling to set.  
I shrugged.  
"Tell you what?"  
"I don't know.. Something. Likeee.. What do you do? Your job I mean."  
"I'm a soldier, in the army. Thought you already knew."  
She nodded and said, "Yeah yeah, I know. But like, what do you even do? It must be scary right?"  
I smiled and shook my head.  
"Not really, no. Mostly it's just boring. Just occasional flashes of scary or a hit of adrenaline. But mostly boring, yeah."  
She smiled and said, "Well I think it's scary. Don't you get scared?"  
I shook my head.  
"How come? I mean, how can you not be scared everytime you go? You could get hurt. You sacrifice your life for other people's safety. Your country. You never know what's gonna happen to you. How can you not be scared?"  
I shrugged as I chuckled.  
"I don't know. Guess I'm used to it now. It's as if going to a normal job working behind a counter. Yeah you can get hit on the road while going to work by a truck or something, but if that happens, then fuck it, that would have been your destiny. Same for me. I do my best to protect my own self so I won't get hurt. We are trained for that. But ultimately, if I gotta get hurt or die, I don't really need to be fighting in the war or in some riot or something. I could be at home and still die from getting shocked if I touch some electric plug with my hands wet from water. So I guess it's the same.. Or it's just in my blood, like in my nature you know?"  
She looked up to me then.  
"What do you mean?"  
I looked out to the ocean and said, "My mother was also in the army. I was always fascinated when I was a little girl by the stories she used to tell me. Guess she got it into me."  
She smiled and said, "Ohh I see, I get it. It runs in the family huh I guess?"  
I chuckled and said, "Yeah, I guess."  
"And when do you go back?"  
"In a couple of weeks' time.."  
She just nodded and we simply looked out into the ocean in silence. The silence wasn't awkward though.

We continued walking and making small talk and then we started heading back to the beach house until we stopped a bit further away from it and we saw the moon rising on the horizon, as the sky got a shade darker.  
Brittany looked up at the sky and said quietly, "Full moon tonight. That thing is huge, don't you think?"  
I just looked up until she continued.  
"Did you ever notice how big the moon is when it's rising, but how small it gets when it's up in the sky?"  
"Nah, that's just an optical illusion actually. The moon's size doesn't ever change, but only your perspective does. When it's against the horizon, it looks like it's enormous, but if you shut one of your eyes... and hold out your hand like this..."  
I looked up and closed one eye as I held up my thumb to 'cover' the moon with it. Then I noticed her trying to copy me and I stood a little behind her and raised her arm with her thumb up and said, "I'll show you. Close one eye."  
Her arm felt so smooth, especially her hand and fingers. As I moved her arm with her thumb up, the moon then 'disappeared' behind her thumb and I whispered, "There.. No matter where it is in the sky..And no matter where you are in the world.. The moon ain't ever bigger than your thumb.."  
She opened her eye then and closed it again, checking out that trick twice and then she turned around to look at me while she smiled bright.

Her face was only inches away from mine. The moonlight was beaming off of her face. Her eyes lit up a darker shade of blue in the moonlight. She was really beautiful and the moonlight showed some of her freckles scattered just below her eyes.

I caught my breath and she whispered as she looked into my eyes, "Where'd you learn that from?"  
I smiled and shrugged and whispered, looking directly into her azure eyes, "Somewhere along the way."


	3. Chapter 3: I'll See You Soon Then

**Author's Note: H**ey, guys, I know it's been more than a week, but currently I've some personal stuff going on and I only had a couple more paragraphs to write in this chapter and to upload it, but I didn't want to upload it without knowing exactly what I'm writing. So my apologies for that.  
Also, thank you for the follows and favs. I appreciate it! Please, leave reviews :)

One last thing, to someone who told me on this site that they think the story is good but they don't like the pairing and that I should've kept with canon, my answer is that if I wanted to use the characters Savannah and John, like in the movie itself "Dear John", I wouldn't have listed this fanfic under Glee and with Brittany and Santana as the main couple, but I would've wrote it under the movie itself. Although, to be honest, if you don't like Brittana, I don't know why you even came looking for the fanfic or even read it in the first place, but anyway, that's all what I wanted to say.

Hope you enjoy reading this chapter :)

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Chapter 3:**I'll See You Soon, Then  
**(Santana's POV)

We went back to the beach house after some time and the house was full of college kids; drinking beer, eating barbecue and partying.  
I chuckled slowly and Brittany looked at me.  
"What?"  
I shrugged with a chuckle again, "No nothing. But how old are y'all?"  
She furrowed her eyebrow in confusion and said, "Umm on our twenties; We're not all the same age. I'm 24 but most of these are younger, why?"  
I shook my head then. "No nothing, it's just it shows they're young."  
She smiled and said then, "Mmm, so all this ain't your type then, huh? Not your thing?"  
"Nah nah it is, I love to party and go out and stuff when I'm back home. They can act too childish though, that's the thing."  
She giggled while taking two plates from on a table and handed me one, and we made our way to the barbecue area.  
"How old are you anyway, Santana?" she asked me while looking at the table where the food was, seeing what she was going to put on her plate.  
"Twenty-eight," I said while following her, and looking around a little uncomfortable.  
She looked at me then, sensing my mood and chuckled.  
"What's wrong? You're that scared to say you're older and you're afraid that people might hear you?"She giggled then, "A soldier's afraid?"  
I rolled my eyes and said, "Noo. Besides I'm not _that_ old. No it's just, you sure I can eat? I mean, I don't really know anyone."  
She put her plate down on the table and looked at me while resting her hip against the edge of the table.  
"Of course you can. Don't worry, there's always more than enough food. And I invited you, no? So c'mon, what do you like?"  
I shrugged and said that anything's fine for me.  
She put some sausages and meat on our plates and just when I was about to start walking back to the branch of tree I was sitting on earlier, she took my plate and put more food in it. She put some mashed potatoes, salad and bread. I just smiled when she handed me my plate and a beer.

We went back to sit on that branch of tree with our plates on our lap, eating slowly.  
I noticed that she didn't take a bite of her sausages yet while I swallowed mine.  
"You don't like sausages?" I asked while opening the beer.  
She chewed the piece of bread she was eating and nodded, "Yeah, I do, why?"  
I shrugged. " 'Cause you're not eating them."  
"Oh that's only 'cause I leave them for the end. Ha, I love sausages!"  
I chuckled and raised an eyebrow as she eyed me and asked with a smile, "What?"  
I shook my head and shrugged while drinking from the beer can.  
We both continued eating and as I finished, she stood up and took my plate and hers to the trash since they were plastic, disposable ones. I smiled and thanked her and looked at the still unlit bonfire. It was a pity, I thought.

I knelt beside the bonfire and from my pocket I took out a flint and magnesium block keychain. I shaved some magnesium off with my pocketknife to produce instant sparks. Quickly, I lighted a stick and slowly, I made sure to light other parts of the bonfire. I looked up then and saw her staring at me with wide eyes.

"What?" I asked, as I sat on the branch of the tree again.  
She sat next to me still staring at the lit bonfire.  
"Wow.. did you really just do that?" she asked as she looked between me and the bonfire.  
I chuckled and shrugged and said, "Oh, it's nothing."  
She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh yeah? Why's that? 'Cause I bet many people can do what you've just done, eh?"  
I giggled and just looked at the bonfire.  
We sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, listening to the cracking of wood as it burned.

Finally, I stood up and I picked up my bag and said, "I should be heading back."  
She stood up as well and put her hands in her shorts' pockets and asked, "You really have to go? You can stay a little bit more.."  
I smiled, "Thank you, but I really should be going back home. I gotta walk it back so.."  
She nodded and picked up my board. "Okay," she paused a bit and then continued, "Thank you for today, Santana. Really.. I don't know what I would I've done if you hadn't done what you did."  
I laughed and said, "Well, if I hadn't done that, you would've had Puck to get your bag for you."  
She giggled and said, "Yeah, right. Most probably he wouldn't have even found it."  
I smiled and shook my head as I took the board from her, "Nahh, you never know what love can make you do," and I winked at her.  
She looked right back at me staring in my eyes for a second and then quickly, rolled her eyes at me and sighed, "Puck is not in love with me, trust me. Maybe he just likes me, but everyone knows that he has a thing for Quinn."  
I burrowed my eyebrow in confusion and she smiled as she explained, "The other blonde girl, her name's Quinn."  
"Ohh I see..I don't know but he seemed pretty much into you today."  
She chuckled and folded her arms across her chest with a small smile spread across her lips, "That's only 'cause he saw you as a threat."  
I narrowed my eyes as I smiled, "What threat? Me? Why?"  
She shifted on her feet and as she was about to open her mouth to answer, Rachel came running towards us, shouting for Brittany, cutting her off.  
"Britt..Britt! Come here, you gotta see this, come!" Rachel said excitedly, tugging onto her arm.  
"Umm.. yeah, wait..soon. Go, I'll be right behind you," she told her, a little annoyed.  
I chuckled and moved one step back, "It's alright you can go. I gotta go now, forreal."  
She smiled an apologetic smile and then she sighed and said, "I hope you won't get into too much trouble 'cause of me."  
"Nah, that's okay, my dad won't say anything. Besides, I'm not a baby anymore," I chuckled.  
She giggled and finally said in a more serious tone, "Thank you for today, really."  
I smiled at her, "Anytime. I'd better be going now. Have a good night and thank you for inviting me here."  
"You're welcome."  
I started walking back a little and was about to turn when she asked, "Umm..w-will I see you again?"  
She bit her bottom lip and moved her right hand up her left arm, nervously.  
I shrugged, "Maybe, usually I'm always hanging around, so yeah, maybe you will.."  
She smiled a timid smile and said softly, "So, I'll see you soon then?"  
I returned the smile and nodded, "I'll see you soon then."

I turned my back and started walking back home. It was a quiet evening and the further I walked from Brittany's beach house, the more quiet it became.  
I soon saw the lit porch of my house and my car in the driveway; A red Seat Ibiza which I had bought last year after the previous one had broke down.  
I went up the steps of the porch and quietly, I opened the front door. I sat down my board and bag in the living room and tiptoed quietly to dad's study room. I peeked in and saw him sitting behind his desk, looking intently at a silver coin through a magnifying glass. I was about to close the door shut again silently when he said, loud enough for me to hear, without averting his gaze from the coin, "You missed dinner."  
I sighed and opened the door and stepped in through the doorway and apologised, "Yeah, I know Dad, I'm sorry. It's just I met B-.. some people on the beach and they told me to go to their barbecue."  
I shifted on my feet uncomfortably until he spoke again.  
"Did you have fun?" he asked, without looking up.  
I felt extremely uncomfortable. I didn't want to talk about that night. About Brittany. I didn't know why. It was like that was something private and Dad didn't need to know about it all. About Brittany specifically.  
So I shrugged and just said a simple, "Yeah, I did."  
He nodded and continued focusing on his coin.

I took the liberty to get out of the study and headed to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water and took a sip. The water reminded me I still needed to shower so I went to the bathroom and started the water running. As soon as I entered under the shower, I felt the hot water on my head. I closed my eyes and looked up as I let the water spill over my face. I washed my hair and then I just stayed there under the shower with water running on me still. I enjoyed the feeling of the hot water moving down my body. It was relaxing and calming. I took a deep breath and flashes of that day came in my mind. Eating breakfast. Washing my car. Swimming. Surfing. Brittany.

_Hmm..Brittany_.

For a reason which I didn't know, she kept crossing my mind a lot. Sure she was beautiful, but not even when I had been dating casually one of my ex's, did I think about my ex this much.

_Maybe it's just 'cause you haven't interacted this much in one day with that many people whom you didn't know, in a long time, that's why._

I tried to shake her out of my head and stepped out of the shower and dried myself. I wrapped a towel around me and got out of the bathroom into my room.  
It had been a long day and all I wanted to do was just lay in my bed and sleep.  
After getting dressed in an oversized t-shirt and hotpants, I switched off the lights in my room and I went to lay on my bed, facing the ceiling.

_She_ was the first thing that popped into my head again. I couldn't understand why.  
I liked her. I really did. What struck me the most about her appearance were her eyes. Her clear, blue, slightly elongated eyes from the edge, just blew my mind away. My mind kept repeating over and over again the moment when I saw her walking towards me and I handed her, her handbag. Her eyes sparkled at that moment.  
_She's really beautiful_, I thought.  
I kept thinking of our conversation from earlier on and I just couldn't stop smiling. She really seemed like an amazing girl.

But then I remembered of how our conversation was stopped abruptly by that brunette.  
_What's her name again? Oh yeah, Rachel._  
_Before Rachel interrupted us, Brittany said that Puck saw me as a threat. Why would he see me as a threat? It's not like Brittany can't make new friends, no? He's her friend too. So what's the problem? He likes her, yeah, I know that but how could he even know that I like girls to see me as a threat? It doesn't make sense. Unless..._

* * *

I felt the sun's rays coming through the window from between the curtains, warming my face. I stirred in my bed and opened my eyes lazily but quickly closed them again. I stayed in bed for a couple more minutes until I heard noises coming from the kitchen. I reached out for my phone on the bedside table and looked at the time. It was 9.23am.

I yawned and stretched and decided to get up. I took out a pair of grey sweatpants and a black sports bra and changed into them. I put on my black sneakers and pulled up my hair in a ponytail. Then, I grabbed my phone and my earphones and went out to the kitchen to find my dad drinking his tea.  
He looked up and said softly, "Morning."  
"Morning," I answered shortly as I put some cereal into a bowl and poured some milk in it. I grabbed a spoon and started eating my breakfast in silence.

I never was much of the talkative type of person in the morning. I always used to get in a bad mood if someone annoyed me by talking to me a lot in the morning or if they asked me a lot of questions as soon as I woke up. I always needed my own time to come to my senses and dad, well he got used to me, even if I spent months away from home on work.

In a few minutes I ate my breakfast and stood up and said "I'm going for a run. See you later." And with that I left.

I put my earphones in my ears and turned shuffle on, on my phone. 'A Sky Full Of Stars' by Coldplay started playing and it was a song which made me start jogging.  
Without knowing, my feet dragged me to the beach where I was surfing yesterday. I loved jogging or working out at the beach. Especially in 'Mum's spot'. It was the spot where she used to take me with her when I was still a little girl to swim or surf or where she used to tell me a story while I used to be cuddled up in her lap listening close. It was one of my favourite places to be. It was a quiet spot, not that close to the crowded part of the beach. As I was growing up, I found myself going there a lot for various reasons. To work out, meditate, or just to think when I had a lot on my mind.

I jogged along the shore with my sneakers splashing the water occasionally when the wave rolled in till I reached Mum's spot. It was a little early still for the beach to get crowded. However there were already a few people sunbathing or testing out whether the water was cold or not.

Although I was focused with my head looking straight ahead, from the corner of my eyes I saw people staring at me or who looked at my abs or chest as I jogged. But that didn't make me look back at them.

I got to Mum's spot and sat down on the sand with sweat forming across my forehead. Then I laid down facing the sun and closed my eyes a little bit. I would give anything to be in that place all the time..

Eventually I sat back up again and decided on doing some sit ups. It was important that I remained in shape and did my daily workouts even if I wasn't at work.  
The more sit ups I did, the more I felt the muscles in my lower abdomen tighten. It was a feeling which I had gotten used to over time though.

I could feel the sun rising up more in the sky, its presence clearly showing its effect on the high temperature on that day. I was sweating a lot. Sweat droplets were cascading slowly from my forehead down my temple towards my cheeks. My hands were all sweaty and sweat was seen to be disappearing between the crevice of my breasts. My torso seemed to be glowing due to the sun's rays being reflected back from the sweat droplets there.

My phone's shuffle was now on "300 Violin Orchestra" by John Quintero. I always loved that song. I felt like it always pumped up motivation in me to continue working out harder.  
I was back into my own world again, not noticing anyone who passed by or who looked my way. Until after a few minutes I noticed from the corner of my eyes someone standing still next to me, who wasn't just walking by.

I was already about to go all Lima Heights on that person's ass telling them something like _"What'd you want, puta? The beach ain't big enough for you from where to pass?!"_ But just as I looked up and put my hand over my eyes below my forehead to shield the light from my eyes, I saw a glimpse of blonde, long hair swaying in the breeze.

"Hey, Santana. What's up?" the voice told me.  
I recognised the voice. It was _her. Brittany._

I stood up and wiped the sand from my ass and back and smiled as I looked at her.  
"Morning, Brittany. How are you?" I asked, taking my earphones out of my ears.  
She was smiling bright with her hair hanging loosely again. She was wearing a denim shorts and a blue crop top with "I'm Fabulous" on it. I smiled inwardly at that.  
"I'm great, what 'bout you? Did I interrupt you?" she asked furrowing her eyebrow.  
I shook my head, "No, no, don't worry about that. I just came jogging a little this morning. And you, what are you doing up so early when you can sleep all day long?" I told her with a smile.  
She shrugged then, "I don't know, to be honest. I just couldn't sleep and thought I'd come for a walk when the beach ain't crowded as much."  
I nodded, "Yeah, same. I love coming here when the beach ain't crowded yet for a jog or to work out a lil'..It's peaceful.."  
She nodded and looked out at the sea, narrowing her eyes because of the sun, which was now up in the sky well enough.  
"It really is. Do you come here often then to work out?"  
I shrugged and started walking a little sideways, "Just occasionally," I replied. "Hey, I was going to go buy some water. You wanna come?"  
She smiled and nodded and we both started walking to the nearest kiosk on the beach making small talk.

"I miss working out. Seeing you working out just made me realise how much I miss it."  
"Why don't you anymore? Some people say it's too hard but it's just them being too lazy. It's not hard though. It's actually very calming and.. well, therapeutic I guess," I chuckled.  
She giggled, "Oh trust me, I know it is. And I'm not lazy when it comes to working out, to set the record straight. I actually used to work out every day when I still used to dance. But then.. things just change too fast, you know?"  
I looked at her, surprised, "Oh, you used to dance? Why'd you stop?"  
She sighed, "When I had to choose what I wanted to do in Uni, mum and dad weren't really in favour of me continuing dance. They said _'It was fine until now, but dancing is not a career'_. So I ended up choosing Journalism, instead. They never really forced me to choose Journalism or something. It's just I knew they wouldn't be happy if I chose dancing. So yeah, I ended up choosing Journalism. But to be honest, it's annoying the fuck out of me and I can't stand it any longer."  
I couldn't help and snicker at her choice of words and she looked at me with a smile, raising her eyebrows, "What? It's illegal now to swear or curse in front of a soldier?"  
I smiled and shook my head, "Well, if you actually cursed at me and I was in my uniform..Well, then you'd be in trouble yes. But right now, I'm just in sweatpants and sports bra, so no, now it's only Santana. Just me."  
She looked at me to the side and smiled a sincere smile and said, "Well, I'm glad that it's the 'Only Santana' right now, next to me."  
I laughed and took some change from my pockets.  
"But really though, come on, be honest, tell me you've never cursed or swore at somebody! Everybody does!"  
"A bottle of water, please," I told the lady behind the counter of the kiosk. I turned my attention to Brittany again, "Who told you I haven't?!" I chuckled. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to know the dirty, filthy, disgusting thoughts and words I've going on in my head, like all the time." The lady came back with my water and as I gave her the change and thanked her, we started going back the opposite direction.  
She raised her eyebrows, "Pfft, who? You? A soldier?"  
I took a sip of the cold water and shrugged, "Yeah, why? Just 'cause I'm in the Army, doesn't mean I'm not human, you know!"  
She rolled her eyes and we laughed and continued walking near the shore and after a while I asked, "Back to dancing, why don't you change your course? I mean from Journalism you choose dancing, if it's what you love to do..?"  
She sighed and said kicking a small pebble which was on the sand a few metres ahead of us, "Mum and dad won't ever let me.."  
"But it's your life. When you're working as a full-time journalist, who's gonna be doing the job? You or your parents? They had their chance at choosing what they want to be happy. Now it's your time, Britt."  
She looked at me quickly and had a smile plastered across her face, "What did you call me?"  
I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion, "Huh? What did I say?"  
"You just called me _Britt_."  
I opened my eyes a little, "Ohh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-.."  
She shook her head and cut me off, "No, no! I like it," she said with a soft smile.  
"You do?" I asked looking at her.  
She nodded softly and I smiled back at her and we continued walking in silence for a few minutes.  
"Thank you, for what you said, you know. I think you're right. It's my life and all my life they told me to never do anything which doesn't make me happy. Yet here I am, studying Journalism in Uni, something which I don't like doing. Something which just isn't me..Maybe I should check can I change courses now before the new scholastic year starts."  
I nodded and took another sip of my water and then wiped the drop of water dripping down my chin with the back of my hand, "Yeah, you should, if it's what makes you happy. Tell me then what happens."  
She nodded and waved her hand in front of her face.  
"You feeling hot? You want some water?" I asked, handing her the bottle of water.  
She shook her head, "No, no that's ok. I don't want you to not drink after then just 'cause you'll be disgusted. It's alright, don't worry."  
I extended my arm more towards her with the bottle in my hand, "Who said I'm the type of person who doesn't drink after others?"  
She smiled and took the bottle up to her lips. I looked away quickly.  
"Well, I don't know. I'm only getting to know you, eh," she took a sip. "You sure you don't mind?"  
I shook my head, "Of course, not, drink all you want. After all, we're.." I stopped, and continued hesitantly as I looked up at her a little, "..we're friends, no?"  
She lowered the bottle down from her lips and smiled and looked me in the eye and then nodded slowly, "Yeah..yeah, we're friends."  
We smiled at each other and continued walking, alternating the bottle between us every now and then, while she commented on how hot it was.

"I really feel like swimming. It's too hot!" she said while pulling her hair up in a high ponytail. "Want to come with me?"  
I looked at her, confused, "What'd you mean? Now?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Umm, but I don't have my bikini on."  
She rolled her eyes, "Well, obviously we go put 'em on first, silly. Then we come for a swim. What'd you think?"  
I nodded and smiled, "Oh okay, yeah sure."  
She beamed a smile and started walking backwards a few steps ahead of me with her front turned towards me, "So..I'll see you soon then?"  
I smiled as I nodded, remembering of how we left each other the previous night, and started walking backwards too, to go back to my house. "Yeah, I'll see you soon then."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you liked this one :) Let me know what you think or what you think will happen in the next chapter ;)


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